Mexico issues the first non-binary passport

Mexico issued its first non-binary passport on Wednesday, May 17th, in honor of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, which takes place annually on that date.

The passport was issued in Naucalpan, a municipality north of Mexico City, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed on Twitter. Ebrard called the occasion “a great leap for the freedom and dignity of people.”

The passport was given to Ociel Baena, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Foreign Ministry and by various other officials, including Salma Luévano Luna, one of Mexico’s first trans-federal legislators.

“Within the framework of #DiaContraLaLGTBIfobia, we endorse our support for sexual diversity. All rights must be guaranteed for all identities. No more hate speech; diversity enriches and flourishes,” the Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter about the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia.

Ministry staffers commemorated the day in more than 40 countries and U.S. states with flags and signs, according to a video on the ministry’s TikTok page.

Primer pasaporte no-binario de México entregado hoy en Naucalpan, un gran salto por la libertad y dignidad de las personas pic.twitter.com/NCZAPS7nt4

— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) May 17, 2023

More than a dozen countries allow for non-binary documents at the national level, Human Rights Watch said in February. The U.S. State Department started providing an “X” (or unspecified) gender option on identity documents in April 2022.

The State Department first previewed the change after Dana Zzyym, an intersex and nonbinary resident of Colorado, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016. The activist and U.S. Navy veteran sued after years of lobbying the State Department to offer an “X” gender marker option on U.S. passport applications. Zzyym, who was recognized by Lambda Legal in their lawsuit, received the first passport of its kind in October 2021.

Mexico will start issuing non-binary passports at its consulates and embassies in the U.S., Canada, and the rest of the world in July, the ministry said.